First United Co. (NASDAQ:FUNC) Position Boosted by O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in First United Co. (NASDAQ:FUNC) by 58.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 42,253 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,523 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC owned 0.65% of First United worth $1,424,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Barclays PLC bought a new position in shares of First United in the third quarter valued at $126,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of First United by 31.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 15,440 shares of the bank’s stock worth $520,000 after purchasing an additional 3,683 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of First United by 34.9% in the 4th quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 20,786 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $701,000 after purchasing an additional 5,374 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in First United by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 24,893 shares of the bank’s stock worth $839,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Angel Oak Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in First United during the 4th quarter worth about $934,000. 33.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

First United Trading Down 4.0 %

NASDAQ:FUNC opened at $26.05 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $168.62 million, a PE ratio of 8.27 and a beta of 0.58. First United Co. has a fifty-two week low of $19.17 and a fifty-two week high of $42.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $33.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.17.

First United (NASDAQ:FUNC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The bank reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.09. First United had a net margin of 18.45% and a return on equity of 12.51%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that First United Co. will post 3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First United Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 17th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.38%. First United’s payout ratio is 27.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on FUNC. StockNews.com downgraded shares of First United from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 29th. Raymond James raised shares of First United from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th.

About First United

First United Corporation operates as the bank holding company for First United Bank & Trust that provides various retail and commercial banking services to businesses and individuals. It offers various deposit products, which includes checking, savings, money market deposit, and regular and individual retirement accounts (IRAs), as well as certificates of deposit.